I worked at a local station of the Berlin fire department. We got an alert (警报) around 8:25pm that Friday and rushed to the fire engine, where the printout from the dispatcher (调度员) said there was a nine-year-old boy locked in a safe.

I asked myself: if it were a safe, would it be airtight? I was aware that it might already be too late by the time we arrived. I had to plan for a bad outcome. On the other hand, if we were in time, how long would it take us to open the safe? I knew it would be an incredibly difficult task. It’s what safes are designed for—not to be opened.

It took less than five minutes to reach the property. When I saw a woman crying on the street,

I knew the situation was serious. She was the boy’s mother and she led us into the basement. She told us the boy was alive and we started talking to him; he was very calm. We asked how it had happened: during a game of hide and seek with his five-year-old brother, he had thought the safe would be a good place to hide.

The boy’s parents had got the house from his mother’s father. The unlocked safe had been there when they moved in and was in an area they didn’t use much. The boy’s little brother had shut the safe, then, when he couldn’t open it again. The only person who knew the combination was the boy’s late grandfather.

From the outset, the biggest priority was getting oxygen to the boy. We got oxygen from the hospital. The boy said that he could feel a thin stream of air. I asked his parents if anyone had opened the safe before and they said no. So we had to guess a six-digit code (密码). We started typing them in—but we had to wait 10 minutes between each attempt before we could try again. So quickly we tried them all. No luck.

We were fully prepared at this point to open the safe by force, starting with a drill.

Then, just as we started to make the first cut, my workmate typed in the correct code.

Having worked at a small food store for two years, I thought I had become successful at what our manager called “customer relations”. I firmly believed that a friendly smile and an automatic “sir”, “madam”, “thank you” and “sorry” would see me through any situation. But on a Christmas night an old woman shook my belief that such a glib (油嘴滑舌的) response could smooth over any difficulty while dealing with other human beings.

The moment she entered the store, the woman presented a sharp contrast to our shiny store with its bright lighting and neatly arranged shelves. Walking as if each step were painful, she slowly pushed open the glass door. On such a zero-degree night, she was wearing only a faded print dress, a thin sweater too small to button, and black slippers with the backs cut out to expose heels. There were no stockings or socks on her blue-veined (青筋的) legs.

After walking around the store for several minutes, the old woman stopped in front of the rows of canned vegetables. She looked at the row of cans, finally picked up a can of corn and stared at the label. At that point, I decided to be a good and polite employee and asked her if she needed help. As I stood close to her, my smile became harder to maintain. An unpleasant smell of sweat rose from her torn clothing.

“I need some food,” she muttered in reply to my bright “Madam, can I help you?”

“Are you looking for corn, madam?”

“I need some food,” she repeated, looking down at the can in her hand, “Any kind.”

“Well, the can of corn is ninety-five cents, madam.” I said in my most helpful voice. “Or if you like, we have a special on bread today.”

After a short pause, she lifted her head and said, “But I can’t pay.”

For a second, it was on the tip of my tongue to tell her that she could take the corn. Then the employee rules flooded into my mind: remain polite but do not let the customers take advantage of you.

At the thought of that, I managed a friendly smile.

Instantly I rushed out of the door with the can of corn and stopped the old woman.

Small boats loaded with various goods sped to the great liner as she was entering the harbour. Before she had anchored, the men from the boats had climbed on board and the decks were soon covered with all kinds of beautiful things they tried to sell. It was difficult not to be attracted. Many of the tourists on board had begun bargaining with the tradesmen, but I decided not to buy anything until I had got off.

I had no sooner got off the ship than I was assailed (纠缠) by a man who wanted to sell me a diamond ring. I had no intention of buying one, but I could not deny the fact that I was impressed by the size of the diamonds. Some of them were as big as marbles (小玻璃球). The man tried his best to prove that the diamonds were real. As we were walking past a shop, he held a diamond firmly against the window and made a deep impression in the glass. It took me over half an hour to get rid of him.

The next man to approach me was selling expensive pens and watches. I examined one of the pens closely. It certainly looked authentic. At the base of the gold cap, the words ‘made in the U.S.A.’ had been neatly carved. The man said that the pen was worth￡50, but as a special favour, he would let me have it for￡30. I shook my head and held up five fingers showing that I was willing to pay￡5. Gesticulating (打手势) wildly, the man acted as if he found my offer extremely unfair, but he finally reduced the price to￡10. Shrugging my shoulders, I began to walk away when, a moment later, he ran after me and pushed the pen into my hands. Though he kept throwing up his arms in despair, he readily accepted the￡5 I gave him. I felt especially pleased with my wonderful bargain.

After I got home, my daughter Lily found the pen in my luggage by accident.

No matter how hard I tried, it was impossible to fill this beautiful pen with ink.